The Economist: The number of ex-Muslims in America is rising

This is one of the most interesting articles I have read in awhile. Who knew? Somalis and other Muslim immigrants are leaving Islam in growing numbers, or at least hiding their rejection of the ‘faith.’

I’ve heard it said that there would be no Islam if there was no severe punishment for renouncing it. Around the world “apostasy” is a death sentence. Honor killings here in the US are a prime example of how Islam instills fear in its ‘followers.’

Proof that free speech must be preserved. Hirsi Ali’s speaking out has influenced many to make the break!

AS SOON as he stepped off the plane on a family holiday to Kenya, Mahad Olad knew something was wrong. His mother, a “very devout, very conservative, very Wahhabi” woman, was acting strangely—furtively taking phone calls when she thought he was out of earshot. His suspicions would soon be proved correct. Mr Olad’s family, Somali immigrants to America and devout Muslims, had discovered that he had not only renounced Islam but was also gay. The holiday was a ruse, an intervention to save his soul.

Mr Olad was told he would leave college and be turned over the next day to the care of Muslim clerics who would restore his faith. “I was aware of the horrors of these camps,” Mr Olad says. “They operate them in the middle of nowhere, where you cannot escape. They subject you to beatings, starvation and trampling.” He tried to contact the American embassy, but it could not send help because of recent terrorist attacks nearby. Luckily, he also managed to reach a Kenyan atheist group. In the dead of night he sneaked into his mother’s room, stole his passport and was whisked away by taxi to the embassy, which eventually returned him safely to America. He has not spoken to his family since.

Though few have such harrowing stories, hundreds of thousands of American Muslims might recognise something like their own experience in Mr Olad’s tale. As the number of American Muslims has increased by almost 50% in the past decade, so too has the number of ex-Muslims. According to the Pew Research Centre, 23% of Americans raised as Muslims no longer identify with the faith. Most of them are young second-generation immigrants who have come to reject the religion of their parents. Some, however, are older when their crisis of faith arrives, already married to devout Muslim spouses and driving children to the mosque to study the Koran at weekends.

Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA) touring the US. Is the SPLC trying to silence them too (as they have tried to do to Hirsi Ali)? https://www.exmna.org/ex-muslims-they-left-islam-and-now-tour-the-us-to-talk-about-it/

The vast majority, whether young or old, are silent about their faithlessness.

[….]

Publicly leaving Islam is difficult because many Muslims live in tight-knit communities. Many apostates are left closeted, afraid to put at risk their relationships with their parents, on whom they may still depend, or with their siblings and their friends. Non-believing Mormons, Hasidic Jews and evangelical Christians find themselves in a similar predicament. Within Somali enclaves in Minneapolis and Pakistani ones in Dallas, renunciation of Islam is tantamount to renunciation of an entire social circle. “The most frustrating part is living knowing that my life has to be guided by the rules I don’t agree with,” says one still deep in the closet.

[….]

Then there are those in more religious households. They tend to have cleaner breaks, sudden realisations while studying the Koran or the Hadith, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Often the verses that trigger this are controversial ones about slavery or gender that family members and imams cannot explain satisfactorily. Coming across the writings of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens sometimes has the same effect.

[….]

Despite all the pressure of family and community, more ex-Muslims seem to be going public. Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA), an advocacy organisation, has pushed for those who safely can to publicly declare their renunciations.

“The goal is to change things enough so that we no longer need to exist,” says Sarah Haider, EXMNA’s director.

I’m chuckling as I wonder —- has the Southern Poverty Law Centerdeclared EXMNA a hate group yet? After all, showing what a bunch of buffoons they are, they named Ayaan Hirsi Ali an Anti-Muslim Extremist in 2016, here.

i have my doubts about the economists a well known left leaning publication that supported hillary clinton and obama and made the claims that trump was not a good thing for our country..i dont consider them reputable sources..for me to believe anything these so called ex muslims say id have to hear it from those like annie cyrus..and shouldnt they call themselves ex samolians or ex pakistani if they left those countries and came to another country to be citizens? you cant claim aligience to another country if you become a us citizen….annie cyrus escaped sharia and iran..she refers to herself as ex iranian..an ex muslim should be protesting the loudest against sharia and those muslims who are devout and want sharia laws in non muslim countries…lots of anti speech givers get threats..our president gets threats..thats not an excuse for not speaking out ..ppl leave their family homes all the time and move someplace else when they dont want to live under someone elses roof and follow their rules..i dont know many who call home after they move out and brag to their parents or friends that drove them away..they make a new life and new friends and stay away from those who believe what their parents believe and what they dont believe. we used to do it all the time its called being independant..ppl have forgotten this because obama and clinton broke this country so far down that parents and kids dont seperate..really sad that 27 year old kids have never moved out of their parents house to support themselves dont experience life and mom and dad pay for their expenses while they sit home and never encourage them to strive to be independant..we have kids having kids..adults should be having kids..you cant be adult if youre never made to be an adult.

it used to be that if you couldnt move out and afford a new place on your own you got together with a few friends and moved out and became roommates..there really is no excuse for staying in a place you dont like..i lived out of a car for 3 mos so that i did not become a housemate to clean and have sex just for a place to stay. my sister and i lived in a camp ground to avoid that situation as well and all of us where there working and living because we were starting over or just moved in from another state and it gave us an address for mail and employers..i dont buy theres no way to get out..

From the fanatically Globalist Economist, mark me down as highly skeptical. For one thing, if you start from a low base, as in those leaving Islam, it is not hard to show huge increases. This also feeds into the quaint universalistic beliefs of Westerners that, given enough prosperity and information, everyone will naturally evolve to be just like us! (How’s that working out with Blacks and Mexicans?) So Globalists like the Economist can say, ‘See, suckers, we’re heading toward a Ozzie & Harriet Mohamed America–keep those borders open!’